Last night my husband and I came up with a pretty genius diet motivation idea. Say it’s 8-9pm, the kids are asleep and you are getting ready to settle down and watch tv with your spouse, partner or cocker spaniel. You’ve been pretty well behaved all day, watching your portions and not snacking too much. But for some reason, when the sun goes down and the kids go to sleep, you tend to let loose and have an ice cream sundae… and a cookie. And maybe some chips and a glass of wine or soda. Sound familiar?

It’s basically modus operandi around here and although my husband and I both know it needs to change, we’ve had little motivation to end our “best part of the day” snack. And thanks to nursing on my part and exercise and good luck or something on his, we’ve still been maintaining our weight which is better than gaining. But as the baby gradually starts sleeping through the night and eating more and more solid meals, I know my excuse will only hold out so long.

Anyway, enter my genius idea: if you had to eat all of your “midnight snacks” (i.e. any treats you have after the kids are in bed) with no shirt on, would you be able to enjoy your smorgasbord as much while being forced to look at the rolls of belly flab you’ve  developed? Take a handful of that flab and ask yourself, “How many nights of ice cream sundaes do you think I’m holding right now?” “Do I really need these chips?”

You laugh (or cringe) but it works. I totally put the chips back last night after making faces with my belly button for a few minutes. And shirt on or no, I’ve decided to limit my unhealthy night time snacks to weekends only from here on out.

What weird but effective diet tricks do you have up your sleeve?